Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to integrated circuits, semiconductor devices, transistors, single and multigate transistors, and nanoribbon and nanowire transistors.
Background Information
The push toward ever-smaller more highly integrated circuit (IC) and other semiconductor devices places enormous demands on the techniques and materials used to construct the devices. In general, an IC chip is also known as a microchip, a silicon chip, or a chip. Integrated circuit chips are found in a variety of common devices, such as the processors in computers, cars, televisions, CD players, and cellular phones. A plurality of IC chips are typically built on a silicon wafer (a thin silicon disk, having a diameter, for example, of 300 mm) and after processing the wafer is diced apart to create individual chips. A 1 cm2 IC chip having feature sizes around of about 90 nm can comprise hundreds of millions of components. Current technologies are pushing feature sizes even smaller than 45 nm. Components of IC chips include, for example, transistors such as CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) devices, capacitive structures, resistive structures, and metal lines that provide electronic connections between components and external devices.